Simon Coveney will face a grilling next week over his handling of the infamous Department of Foreign Affairs champagne party.
Mr Coveney will appear before the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs to discuss a report into a celebration that took place in Iveagh House in June 2020.
In a report published earlier this week the current Secretary General Joe Hackett found a “serious breach” of social distancing rules had occurred at the gathering to mark Ireland’s election to the UN Security Council.
Mr Hackett said the former Secretary General Niall Burgess, who took a selfie at the gathering, agreed to pay €2,000 to a Covid charity.
Three other senior officials present were told to pay €1,000 to a Covid charity.
Mr Hackett, who carried out the internal investigation, will join the Minister at the Oireachtas committee where he will also be questioned by TDs and Senators.
It’s expected Minister Coveney will be questioned about why he didn’t report the matter or take action when he was told of the picture which was deleted from Twitter back in 2020.
And Mr Hackett will also have to explain why he didn’t interview his boss, Foreign Affairs Minister Coveney, as part of the investigation. Taoiseach Micheal Martin has ruled out an independent, external investigation into the gathering despite Sinn Fein requesting he do so.
The report into the gathering concluded that the event was not planned and states that the review found “no evidence that statutory rules were breached, the public health guidance that then applied was not followed”.
The report said following the announcement that Ireland had secured a seat on the Security Council, Niall Burgess “provided three bottles of sparkling wine from personal items he kept in his office for use as gifts and which he purchased at his own expense”.
The report stated the review team is satisfied that no social event in breach of guidance took place during Foreign Affair Minister Simon Coveney’s presence when he thanked staff later in the evening.
It said on the basis of accounts provided, the review team estimates that Minister Coveney was present in the open plan space for approximately 15 minutes.
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